BLACK ANVIL: “REGENESIS”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 242022
 

(Here we present Wil Cifer‘s review of the new album by the New York City black metal collective Black Anvil, which is due out on November 4th via Season of Mist.)

Not unlike many American Black Metal bands, Black Anvil did not evolve from a LARPing past littered with Manowar cassettes and 20-sided dice, but from the punk scene.

The band’s founding members paid their dues in the hardcore band Kill You Idols. Where many hardcore scensters felt the next cool bandwagon to jump upon would be black metal, whose European counterparts shared a similar DIY aesthetic, for Black Anvil the common ground was aggressive emotional outburst, which the band continue to refine into a sound that is just as legit as any essemblege of Scandinavian headbangers. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A BANDCAMP FRIDAY: DYING FETUS, OAK PANTHEON, BLACK ANVIL, FAWN LIMBS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 022022
 

Because this is a Bandcamp Friday a ton of bands and labels have launched singles and other releases to take advantage of the opportunity for a bit more income. I wish I could put the spotlight on a dozen or more of them, but I just don’t have the time for that. Instead, I’m reduced to throwing a few mental darts into that great mass and pulling out what got hit.

Barring a meteor strike on my house, an invasion of fast zombies, or prostration before the demon alcohol tonight, I should have another roundup of new music for you tomorrow.

DYNG FETUS (U.S.)

To help propel the launch of a North American tour that starts today, Dying Fetus have released a new single (with a video) named “Compulsion For Cruelty“, which apart from a 2018 split is their first new music since 2017’s Wrong One to Fuck With. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLACK ANVIL, DEAD VOID, PARIUS, BONES, BLODKVALT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 052022
 

Today we’ve already presented a pair of raunchy reviews, the premiere of some dismal and nightmarish black metal, and another evocative installment of a Fire in the Mountains festival report. But even with all that, I thought I’d still try to squeeze in a roundup of new songs and videos, just to somewhat lighten the load on me for the usual Saturday roundup. It will still be a crushing load, but maybe getting the following five items out there mow will leave a few vertebrae intact tomorrow.

BLACK ANVIL (U.S.)

Let’s begin with something bracing, something that’s both chilling and muscular, a song that creates tension and tightens it, becomes scathing and sweeping in its portrayal of despair, stampedes in a fury, and raises its voice in proclamations of hellish reverence. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLACK ANVIL — “MILES”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Feb 262019
 

 

On March 4, 2014, Selim Lemouchi took his own life at the age of 33. As the founding member and guitarist of The Devil’s Blood, in which he was joined by his sister Farida, Lemouchi created emotionally powerful occult rock music that was beautifully evil and haunting, a combination of darkness and grandeur that reflected and channeled Lemouchi‘s Satanic spiritualism. The music made strong and lasting connections with many listeners, and led to friendships among fellow musicians, among them, members of New York City’s Black Anvil. Their new EP, Miles, was created as a tribute to him.

Initially, Miles consisted of just the title track and a cover of Mercyful Fate‘s “A Corpse Without Soul”. Work on it was put aside for a time while Black Anvil focused their efforts on their 2017 album, As Was. After returning to Miles, the band wrote and recorded one more original song, the opener “Iron Sharpens Iron”, and recorded a cover of The Devil’s Blood‘s “Everlasting Saturnalia” to round out the EP. Working with their friend Steve Macioci of STB Records, the band have readied Miles for release in March, in remembrance of, and dedication to, their lost friend Selim Lemouchi. We have a full stream of the EP for you today. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLACK ANVIL, SLAVES BC, WORMWITCH, SACRILEGIA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 212019
 

 

After finishing this morning’s previous posts, I just barely had enough time to grab a few new songs for this round-up before having to surrender to my fucking day job. Based on what’s on the slate tomorrow, I think I’ll have time for a few more then.

BLACK ANVIL

Following up on their latest album, 2017’s very good As Was, New York’s Black Anvil have a new EP named Miles headed our way, a release that was written, performed, and recorded as a tribute to late The Devil’s Blood guitarist/vocalist Selim Lemouchi. DECIBEL mag, which premiered the EP’s opening track earlier this week, describes Miles as retaining “the barely-restrained insanity of Black Anvil’s previous releases while also embracing more melody and vulnerable emotion”, and that description is borne out my the song they premiered, “Iron Sharpens Iron“. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 7): AU-DESSUS, CLOAK, BLACK ANVIL

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2017  10 Responses »
Jan 182018
 

 

I’m a bit rushed today, thanks to rude interference by my fucking day job, so… no multi-paragraph preamble to this edition of my growing list of infectious songs. I’ll just say that I grouped all three of these bands together because, each in their own way, they achieved success last year through genre-blending.

AU-DESSUS

When I heard the first single (“XI”) from this Lithuanian band’s debut album, End of Chapter, I had a suspicion that we had something very special on our hands. By the time we ourselves premiered the second one (“XII”), I had a firm conviction that this record would stand well out from the pack and become a highlight of the year. Finally being able to hear the full album provided confirmation. Continue reading »

BLACK ANVIL: “AS WAS”

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Jan 132017
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by NY’s Black Anvil.)

Towards the tail-end of 2016 I conducted an as-yet-unpublished interview with Black Anvil bassist/vocalist Paul Delaney about the band’s upcoming new album, As Was (out today on Relapse Records).

During said conversation he ruefully acknowledged that the fact that the band’s members all have roots in the NYC Hardcore scene tends to unnecessarily dominate the conversation a lot of the time, often causing people to read into things, or hear things, that aren’t there, and leading interviewers to say or ask things which make it clear they’ve made certain assumptions about the band, and about their music, that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

So I had to laugh when skimming through some of the coverage of As Was on the internet recently, noting several writers/reviewers still attempting to cast doubt upon the band’s sincerity and/or integrity, with the general gist seeming to be that it’s impossible for tattooed ex-Hardcore guys to truly “get” Black Metal, which is a genre that’s solely the preserve of weedy dudes in face paint, who truly understand “darkness” (no parents?).

I mean, are we honestly still going with the whole “jocks vs nerds” stereotype?

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the urge, the need, to see and hold a style of music as “yours”. Particularly if it’s been such a formative part of your identity for so long. But to write off a band simply because they haven’t followed the same path as you is just ludicrous.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat… or to blast a beat… after all. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): MURG, WITCHERY, BLACK ANVIL, CHRIST AGONY, INVERTIA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Nov 202016
 

murg-gudatall

 

As I originally wrote this post, it included music from 10 bands. As I explained yesterday, I’m feverishly trying to spread the word about late-breaking new releases before being swallowed up by our year-end LISTMANIA orgy. In order to do that, I throttled my usual wordiness in what I wrote, atypically allowing the music to speak (mainly) for itself. But I still thought that 10 bands might be too much for a single post, so I’ve divided it into two parts. I’ll let Part 2 simmer in the pot for an hour or two and then spring that one on you today as well.

As usual for this series, all the music is charred black to differing degrees. I’m starting with some arguably better-known names and then, especially in Part 2, diving a bit deeper into the well of obscurity.

MURG

Song: “Mästarens resa i mörkret”
Album: Gudatall
Release date: December 16
Country: Sweden
Order link: https://murg.bandcamp.com/album/gudatall Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: A STREAM DUMP (PART 2)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Apr 132014
 

John Martin: “The Deluge” (1834)

As I mentioned yesterday, the past week brought good song and video premieres in a flood, which was unfortunate only in the sense that I didn’t have time to write about all those discoveries day-by-day as they happened. So this weekend I decided to just flood you with them, leaving behind all but some short snippets of my own sparkling prose and mainly delivering the streams, along with release info.

Yesterday I collected 11 (!) new songs and videos, plus a couple of tantalizing news items, and today I’ve got 12 more, plus a few more news items. Once again, I present them in alphabetical order:

AMBIENT DEATH

The Song: “Apotheosis of the Hangman”
From: Dismembering the Image of God
Release info: self-released by the band on April 7; below is a new video for the opening track

Vicious melodic death metal with flying fretwork that gets more interesting and seductive as the song progresses. Punches pretty damned hard, too. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AUTOPSY, LOUDBLAST, BLACK ANVIL, AND ARCHSPIRE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Mar 272014
 

I’ll spare you the why’s and wherefore’s, but your humble editor has fallen behind in monitoring developments in the world of metal.  As a result, the collection of new songs is even more random than usual. Nevertheless, I think all the music is very good, and it’s diverse enough that it should please a range of tastes.

AUTOPSY

Tourniquets, Hacksaws And Graves is the name of the seventh studio excrescence by the mighty Autopsy. Ever since the Wes Benscoter album art and April 21 release date were disclosed by the Peaceville label back in February, I’ve been waiting for a taste of the music, and we finally got it yesterday, with the premiere of “The Howling Dead” at Noisey.

I’m not surprised at how good this song is, but I’m surprised at how wretchedly good it is. That driving beat at the beginning, shrouded in dense distortion, is just killer. So is the thoroughly horrific doom slow-down that follows it. So is the lurching, rocking stomp that comes next. And so on… Chris Reifert’s vocals have never sounded more horrific, the riffs are as putrescent and grisly as they’ve ever been, and the closing guitar solo oozes decay. Fantastic! Continue reading »

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